Mother Teresa: Sister to the Poor (Women of Our Time) by Giff, Patricia Reilly (1986) Hardcover - Hardcover

Giff, Patricia Reilly

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670810967 ISBN 13: 9780670810963

Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 1986

Synopsis

Giff, Patricia Reilly

About this title

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8 Giff's account of the 1977 Nobel Prize winner differs from at least five other juvenile titles issued since 1981 because Giff showsespecially to non-Catholic readersthe religious background that led her to join nuns in Calcutta and to serve the poorest of the poor in the world's most crowded slums. Giff uses short sentences, wisely selected anecdotes and pronunciation helps as she shows that one individual can change the world by helping the nearest person because she sees God in everyone. A significant contribution is the mention of the Sisters' respect for each child's Hindu, Muslim or Christian faith in education and marriage rites. One questionable statement is that children "hardly ever washed," which conflicts with ritual Hindu cleansing. Lewin's realistic acrylic and wash street scenes are dramatic but lack the impact of photographs. Leigh's Mother Teresa (Bookwright Pr, 1986) has similar wording and color photos and illustrations that have a stronger impact, but it underestimates the size of the slum population. Mother Teresa's motives could confuse American young people, but both Leigh and Giff express them in Mother Teresa's own words, words that illuminate a face wrinkled from caring and hands roughened from ministering to the closest one. Pat Harrington, Phoenix Public Library
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly

In the new addition to the outstanding Women of Our Times series, Giff tells the story of a great woman, simply but eloquently. Lewin's pictures complement the biography admirably, showing events in Albania where Agnes Bojaxhiu was born in 1910 and in her later life. (Giff explains how to pronounce Agnes's patronym and all the unfamiliar words here.) At age 18, she became a nun, Sister Teresa, traveling far from home to India to serve as a teacher. But the future Mother Teresa began to follow "the little way" of her inspiration, the great French Saint Therese and other selfless persons like the leper priest, Father Damian, and the humble black Peruvian, St. Martin de Porres. Mother Teresa left the safe convent to go out on the streets of Calcutta where she devoted herself to caring for "the poorest of the poor." Today her mission has spread all over the world with men and women disciples serving according to her example. Mother Teresa was given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, but avoids attention to herself, saying "only the work is important." Children can learn tht one human being with faith and love has made a difference.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Juvenile
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0670810967
• ISBN 13: 9780670810963
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 57